Responses to Enough Good Memories

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith from a place of winter For the Years of Winter…

Occasionally folks make responses to a post, or some other item comes across the screen that ought to be shared, so here is some catching up along those lines, especially from Enough Good Memories of 2-19:

Lutheran author and pastor Rebecca Ninke said that she enjoyed appearing in Christ In Winter because it made her think she had accomplished something for the day. So if you’re having a bad day when you feel like you’re not accomplishing anything, let me know and I’ll find some way to mention you.

Kaye Young and I once talked of making a video of some sort to provide good examples for young people. Kaye said he could be the star of a whole series on what NOT to do. That’s one of the things old people do best—telling young people to avoid certain activities because we did them and they didn’t work out. Makes you wonder why WE did them when our older relatives and friends told US not to do them, too. [1]

Bill Linneman says that he sometimes remembers by picking a year. He writes a column for THE NORMALITE newspaper in Normal, IL and recently wrote 3 columns on 1939. I like that idea. I think I’ll start with 1957, because that’s when I met Helen. Appropriately for a retired IL State U English prof, Bill quotes Lord Byron: “All times are good when old.” {He also said, “All tragedies are ended by a death; all comedies by a marriage.” Byron, not Bill.} [2]

Author Elaine Palencia remembered fried Spam sandwiches, with mayonnaise and white bread. I think that is especially appealing as a memory because nobody would dare eat such a concoction in old age. [3]

Retired UM pastor Howard Daughenbaugh says that the word “epizootic” created fond memories for him of a special person, an aunt who was a surgical nurse in New Orleans and who stayed with him during a tricky appendectomy, and who felt that anything that didn’t measure up to being an epizootic was just a passing discomfort.

Of course, there are things we don’t want to remember, too. Epizootic is a wonderful word, but I don’t use it much, because I don’t want to remember the symptoms of an epizootic.

Congrats to “Shammy” [Eugene] and Doris Shambarger, married 55 years Feb. 25. [4]

I received an email from Sandra Escondrias of AUTUMN SAINTS, which describes its mission as developing resources for later life spirituality. I know nothing about them, but their web site looks promising. You can check them out at http://autumnsaints.org/

JRMcF


[1] I met Kaye Young of Mason City, IA because I was in a play he directed, LATER LIFE, by A.R. Gurney. David Aaron Baker—IL State U graduate and stage, TV, and movie actor, currently in “Merchant of Venice” with Robert DiNiro in NYC—calls Gurney “Jack.” That must mean that the “A” and “R” are Archibald and Roscoe. [I’m relatively sure that there are no Archibalds or Roscoes who read this blog, but if there are, I apologize.]

[2] I have to be careful with Bill’s name because my sphelczhek always wants to change Linneman to Lineman. Speaking of THE NORMALITE…. Normal, IL is near the town of Oblong. THE NORMALITE’S most famous headline was, “Normal Man Marries Oblong Woman.”

[3] I suppose the best known Champaign-Urbana author is Richard Powers, but I think the best one is Elaine. Try BRIER COUNTRY or SMALL CAUCASIAN WOMAN.

[4] Shammy was our happily and totally reliable auto mechanic in Arcola, IL. Once when daughter Katie was a graduate student house-sitting for us, some UI friends called and wanted her to come up for a party. She explained that she couldn’t because her car was on the fritz and “the mechanic is out of town.” They were flabbergasted. “There’s only ONE in the whole town?” Well, yes, that’s the way it was.

{I also write the fictional “Periwinkle Chronicles” blog. One needs a rather strange sense of humor to enjoy it, but occasionally it is slightly funny. It is at http://periwinklechronicles.blogspot.com/}

(If you would prefer to receive either “Christ In Winter” or “Periwinkle Chronicles” via email, just let me know at jmcfarland1721@charter.net, and I’ll put you on the email list.)